Electrical connectors are well known in the art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,644 teaches a shielding terminal for connection to an end of a shielded cable. The shielded cable has a core and a shield layer surrounding and spaced from the core. The shielding terminal includes an outer terminal, a dielectric element, an inner terminal, at least one metal lock and at least one locking hole. The outer terminal is configured for connection with the shield layer of the shielded cable. The dielectric element is disposed at least partly in the outer terminal and the dielectric element has an inner surface and at least one projection projecting from the inner surface. The inner terminal is disposed at least partly in the dielectric element and is configured for connection with the core of the shielded cable. The inner terminal is formed with at least one resilient contact piece for contacting a mating terminal. The at least one metal lock is formed in an outer surface of the inner terminal. The at least one locking hole is formed in an inner surface of the dielectric element and is configured for engagement by the metal lock. The at least one projection projecting from the inner surface of the dielectric element at least partly fills a clearance between the inner surface of the dielectric element and the inner terminal in a direction substantially parallel to a resilient deforming direction of the resilient contact piece and for contacting the outer surface on the inner terminal.
Shielding terminals such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,644 have drawbacks. For example, the braided wire on the connecting cable is sometimes large, thus, requiring a large crimp. Crimping on a large braided wire is sometimes difficult to control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,563 discloses a water-proof shielded connector that has a first connector housing with accommodating chambers for accommodating a terminal provided at an end of at least one core disposed from an end of a shielded wire. The shielded wire is covered with a shield cover made of conductive materials. Both the connector housing and the shield cover are respectively engaged with a counterpart second connector housing and shield cover of a terminal connecting side. The first and second connector housings are a pair of male and female connectors having respective outer and inner periphery portions. The outer and inner periphery portions face each other. The water-proof shielded connector includes a first sealing member and a second sealing member. The first sealing member is provided in a water-proof sealing relationship between respective outer and inner periphery portions of the first and second connector housings. The first sealing member is compressed in a radial direction. The second sealing member is provided in a water-proof sealing relationship between the shielded wire and a wire inserting portion of the connector housing.
Water-proof shielded connectors such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,563 also have drawbacks. Note that for the disclosed water-proof shielded connector a shielding enveloping all of the terminals is used. Such shielding is large and sometimes causes difficulty in achieving a reliable crimp. Furthermore, a new shield size and a new crimp size are required to accommodate each different one of connector positions.
It would be beneficial to provide a sealed electrical connector that would be easier to control crimping of the terminal onto a large braided wire. It would also be beneficial to provide a sealed electrical connector that can accommodate different connector positions without having to change the size of the shield or the crimp. The present invention provides these benefits.